


gravity

by cardgamebitch



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-02-15 12:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13031175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cardgamebitch/pseuds/cardgamebitch
Summary: Yuma is a master of tactics, and also of gentle pats.





	gravity

**Author's Note:**

> ya i just wrote this after finishing episode 112 and uh. its been rough. and then i forgot abt it for 3 weeks and here we are
> 
> lets uhhhh pretend theyre in some dimension where yuma can touch astral, thats not sargasso,

They are in a liminal dimension between the Three worlds, looking for a particular Number hidden amid the blue sand and warbled brush, when Yuma finally says, from nowhere:

"Can I touch your gems- jewels? Stones? Since I can actually touch you here?"

Astral blinks, and thinks. "Gems," he says.

"Gems then. Can I?"

Astral smiles, just a little. "Can you reach them?"

He watches the excitement fall off of Yuma's face like gravity had pulled it down.

Gravity does not pull Astral down, so _he_ can float up beyond Yuma's reach.

"No fair," Yuma says, drawn-out, as if Astral snatched a Duel Lunch out of his hands. "Astral!"

Astral pitches forward, ending up in a lying position, belly down. He folds his arms under his chin and slowly floats down to Yuma. He is a petal suspended in air.

Yuma waits until Astral has reached eye-level with him. It is then Astral realizes how painfully intimate it is to be floating this close - that the only gems he can touch in this position are on his forehead - but then, that was the point, wasn't it?

Yuma's hand twitches. He reaches out. Astral keeps his eyes open.

Yuma basically pokes his gems with his pointer finger, though to his credit he is very gentle. He taps the center gem twice, three times, and smiles. He radiates delight. His eyes wander up and he goes on his tiptoes to pat his hand on Astral's hair. He runs his hand through it soothingly, lovingly. Astral didn't expect it would feel as nice as it does, and fights to keep his eyes open.

"Sorry," Yuma says, "I actually really wanted to feel your hair but I didn't know how to ask."

"So you asked to touch my gems," Astral finishes. "How bold."

Yuma doesn't have the manners to look bashful. "It's called tactics, Astral."

Astral doesn't think that lying qualifies as tactics, but he likes Yuma, and he likes that Yuma likes him, so he will let it slide. He almost feels like burying his face in his hands, which is weird, because it's not like he feels bad, so maybe it's because he feels nice and complete like this that he should curl up.

As Yuma makes to put his hand down, he slides it down Astral's cheek. 

It's not a caress because Yuma is only using the pads of his fingers, and Yuma is too shy for a caress, or maybe too naive and young for one, or maybe he hasn't really thought about what a caress is and what it says - but it's not like Astral knows what a caress says, or how it would feel like anyhow, so it's all moot in the end. Sometime in the future they will put into words what they feel, but it is still not that day.

What Astral _does_ feel is that Yuma's hand falls down. Gravity is a cruel cruel law of nature, and Astral decides that next time they will visit a dimension where it won't make Yuma's hand leave.

"Thanks," Yuma says, rubbing his finger under his nose in that typical Yuma way. "For letting me."

Astral tilts back, body coming up vertically, to stand across from Yuma. "Yes," he says, and waits until Yuma has relaxed sufficiently to say: 

"Is it my turn now?"

Yuma's absolute surprise, and accompanying fluster, is very much worth it. Tactics indeed.


End file.
